Blood Ties
by ArgentumAurora
Summary: Nanase Haruka has begun the chaotic descent into becoming a Level E after being bitten by a pureblood vampire. Unfortunately, he doesn't know who bit him, and if he doesn't find out soon, he'll go insane and die. Even worse, it's looking like Rin might be his first victim. *Slight Vampire Knight Crossover* *One-Shot*
1. Haru POV

**Title:** Blood Ties

 **Pairing:** Rin x Haru

 **Time Limit:** 45 Minutes

 **Prompt:** Haru as a vampire feeding on Rin (prompt from  miniscenario )

 **Notes:** I borrowed the vampire system in this fic from Vampire Knight. Hopefully I've explained this well enough. Daily One-Shot, making up for missed days. Enjoy!

Level E: A human who had been bitten and turned into a vampire, but was afflicted by a terrible hunger that could never be fully satisfied, and eventually drove its victim to the point of death. Very few dared to try and fight the awful hunger of becoming a Level E, and even fewer could hold it off long enough to save themselves. The only way for a Level E to escape death was to drink the blood of the pureblood vampire who bit them.

It was unfortunate that Haruka Nanase had no idea who'd bitten him. And he didn't have very much time left before the hunger consumed him.

Sure, he'd tried everything to satiate the unquenchable thirst for blood that gnawed at his insides day and night. It was a kind of pain and torture beyond anything he'd ever experienced. When drinking blood suddenly became more important than water, Haru knew his chances of surviving this were practically nonexistent.

The time Haru stopped coming to swim practice and didn't seem at all interested in water was when his friends had started to notice that something was amiss with their aquaphilic friend. And they couldn't entirely hide the fear in their eyes when the package of blood tablets spilled out of Haru's backpack. Even though Makoto had kindly offered to let Haru drink from him, Haru had turned his friend down. Haru didn't know how much self-control he had anymore, and he didn't want to hurt his friends. That was why he was locked inside his house, all alone.

If there was one bright spot to this slow, painful death, it was that Haru could still have his beloved mackerel. The only difference was that now he ate it raw, and got it from a special source that didn't drain the fish of its blood. Mackerel no longer satisfied Haru's stomach as much as it once had, but the black haired boy took delight in every little detail that remained the same, because there were so few of them.

Currently, Haru was sitting on the floor of his kitchen, head leaned back against the cabinets as he fought off waves of hunger and dizziness. The urge to give in to these terrible instincts was strong; it would be so easy to slip into the madness that would precede Haru's death. Sometimes he wondered if it would be better to get his death over with. He was helping no one by staying alive.

Then there was a knock on Haru's front door, a knock that changed that line of thinking.

Unfortunately, Haru did not trust himself to open the door. His fangs prodded at his lips, reminding him of that absolutely insatiable hunger. No, he definitely was not going to answer the door. Haru did not want to be responsible for any deaths. If whoever was at his door was really determined to see him, they could come right in; the key was under the doormat. Or they could persistently knock on the door again, as they had just done.

They knocked again. Haru's advanced hearing allowed him to hear the soft exhales of breath and shuffling as the person bent down, took the key, and inserted it into the lock. It twisted, was removed, and the door opened, spilling a familiar red-haired boy into Haru's house.

"Haru? You here?" Rin Matsuoka called, immediately making a beeline for the bathroom. At least he knew where he should've started looking for Haru. It was odd that such a thought could gratify Haru at a time like this. Because honestly, the fact that Rin Matsuoka was inside his house and looking for him at the moment Haru felt closer to descending into the madness that was Level E than ever before was absolutely terrifying him. He suddenly wished it had been a door-to-door salesman or someone like that at his door; the hunger was a burning, raging creature independent of Haru's will at this point, and Haru would rather kill a stranger than his childhood friend.

Haru tried to call out and tell Rin to leave, but a silent moan escaped the second he opened his mouth, betraying the gnawing feeling in his stomach. He tried to stand, but his legs slid shakily on the linoleum floor, sending him crashing down again with an audible thud. Rin's footsteps turned toward the kitchen. _Shit_.

Rin appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, his red eyes widening when he saw Haru slumped against the cabinets like a rag doll. He began to walk toward Haru, clearly wanting to help his friend in some way. _Go. You have to leave._

"Rin…" Haru croaked. His voice sounded awful, like his vocal cords had been rubbed on sandpaper then dipped in vinegar. Rin's expression slanted into one of concern. Haru tried to warn him, "You have to leave."

"What the hell, Haru?" Rin growled, stopping about three feet away from the boy. The scent of Rin, of his blood, was singing in Haru's ears, playing his senses like a complicated and beautiful melody. Rin looked pissed off. "You're lying on the kitchen floor looking like death itself and you want me to leave? Like hell I will!"

"Rin!" Haru somehow managed a ferocious growl. His fangs were bared in a snarl, something so foreign to both Haru and Rin that both boys were caught equally off-guard for a moment. _Did I just growl at him?_

Rin stared at Haru's fangs, eyes widened. Haru braced himself for the aghast expression of fear he expected to follow, the one that would likely shatter one of his last ties to his humanity. But Rin didn't look afraid. In fact, the expression that floated to the red-haired swimmer's face was unreadable to Haru, but it could've been pity, or guilt.

"I'm so sorry, Haru," Rin wailed, rushing forward. Tears streamed down Rin's face, and they began to wet Haru's T-shirt as Rin embraced Haru and pressed his face into Haru's neck. Haru stiffened, but not from Rin's close proximity; well, a little bit from Rin's close proximity. The scent of Rin absolutely overwhelmed Haru's senses now. It took every bit of his little remaining self-control not to sink his fangs into the flesh of Rin's neck and drink his childhood friend dry, and that self-control was dwindling rapidly. Anyone other than Rin, or perhaps Makoto, would've been dead by now.

"Rin…" Haru choked out. His breath came in fast, shallow pants now. "Leave…"

"No, Haru. I'm not leaving you, I told you that. Especially not when…" Rin stopped, pulled back, and met Haru's gaze. Rin's eyes, usually such a vibrant red color, were dampened by sadness and tears now. Their light was duller than usual. Haru looked away, his limbs shaking. Any second now, Haru was certain he would kill Rin.

"Especially not when this is my fault." Haru looked at Rin in alarm, startled by his friend's words, only to gasp in horror as Rin threw his head back, exposing his neck to Haru's fangs. _No, no, no!_ Haru's mind screamed, but the hunger, which at first had been a pile of smoldering coals in his stomach, had spread like liquid fire throughout his body, leaving every inch of him desperate for Rin's blood, had taken over completely. Against his will, Haru lunged forward, and sank his fangs deeply into Rin's neck.

It was a strangely intimate thing, to drink the blood of his longtime friend and rival. But Haru had never tasted anything so sweet or wonderful in his entire life. He would never be able to have mackerel again. But his mind would not let him forget that the delicacy that now sang through his veins came at the cost of his dear friend's life.

Haru drank for almost a full minute before his fangs retracted, his hunger satisfied. Rin had to look back at Haru and smile softly at him before Haru realized that it wasn't supposed to be possible for his hunger to feel satisfied. This was supposed to be the moment where his last thread of humanity snapped as he held Rin's dead body and fully became a Level E vampire. Instead, Rin was smiling at him.

What Rin did next surprised Haru even more. A bit of blood had dribbled out of Haru's mouth, running down his chin. Rin swiped a finger across Haru's skin, sweeping up the blood before inserting the finger into his own mouth, drinking his own blood. It was when Rin released the finger from his mouth that Haru noticed the set of fangs visible in Rin's mouth too; he'd always thought there was something inhuman about those wickedly sharp teeth. Now he knew.

"I'm sorry, Haru. For so long, I wasn't sure how to tell you. When Makoto told me what'd happened, I worried I was too late to save you, but…" Rin began to cry again, burying his face in Haru's shoulder once more. This time, while Haru could smell the sweet (too sweet to be human, he realized now) scent of Rin's blood, his hunger had died away, and he was not tempted to take a share of it. At least, not overwhelmingly tempted.

"It's ok. Thank you, Rin," Haru replied, awkwardly placing a hand on the back of Rin's head. It was such a strange thought that he had now; he was not going to die. "Thank you for saving me, Rin."

After a few minutes of sniffling, Rin pulled back and got to his feet. He then extended a hand to help Haru up as well.

"So, how about you get up off the kitchen floor? I think you should go see your friends and let them know you're alive," Rin said. Haru accepted Rin's hand and stood up as well. The two vampires stood face to face now, just an inch or two away from one another. Haru nodded; his friends would be glad to know he was alive.

Haru just had one more question for Rin. "Rin… How long have you known that you were a pureblood?"

Rin sighed. "I left for Australia as soon as I found out. I didn't think I could handle being around you guys."

Now Haru stood with one hand on the doorknob. Memories spun through his head of the past six months, since he'd first been bitten. The memory of actually being bitten was fuzzy now; something about a hospital and no swimming for a week.

"Rin," Haru said, pressing the doorknob down. Fresh, cool evening air spilled in, rushing across Haru's skin. "Rin, will you stay?"

Rin had been staring at the kitchen tiles, lost in thought. His gaze cut sharply upwards now, meeting Haru's. Surprise danced across his features. Haru could see now, and wondered why he hadn't been able to see before, the little details that gave Rin away as a vampire. Sharp teeth, stunning good looks, vibrant eyes that glowed in the dim light of the kitchen… They weren't kidding when they said vampires were deathly beautiful.

"Yeah," Rin decided. "Yeah, I'll stay. Actually, you can come to Samezuka with me. It's a school for vampires. That's why I transferred there."

Haru wanted to be surprised by this, but it kind of made sense. "Okay."

He was just stepping out into the night air, his step refreshed by a new kind of purpose, when Rin's voice made him stop. "Hurry back, Haru. I'm hungry." This made Haru walk faster to Makoto's. He was eager to be alive again, to not feel like he might eat his best friend, and to get back to Rin. Because in saving the boy's life, Rin had also gained control of Haru. It meant that Haru would be alive for a lot longer. There would be no death tonight.


	2. Rin POV

**Title:** Blood Ties

 **Pairing:** Rin x Haru

 **Time Limit:** 45 Minutes

 **Prompt:** Haru as a vampire feeding on Rin (via  miniscenario )

 **Notes:** Same plot as "Blood Ties (Haru POV)" but told this time from Rin's perspective. Daily One-Shot. You do not have to have read this story from Haru's POV first, you can read them in either order. The vampire system used here is borrowed from Vampire Knight.

Rin was surely the world's biggest idiot. It wasn't news to him; he'd screwed up way more times over the course of his life than he'd care to count. Usually when he messed up and something went horribly wrong, he could escape. Swimming had always been a splendid excuse to escape life's problems for a while. But this mistake was a whole new level of stupid. This mistake was possibly about to cost Rin's dearest friend's life.

The train headed for Iwatobi couldn't move fast enough. Makoto had called Rin about an hour ago to tell him the news about Haru. Rin had immediately boarded a train to Iwatobi, desperate to reach his friend before it was too late. He would've liked to have just run all the way to Haru's house, as he knew he could, but that caused problems with the public, plus it was daytime now, and he was weak from not having fed recently enough.

A few humans on the train were watching Rin, some discreetly, others not so much. It was unavoidable; vampires tended to attract the attention of humans. Their supernatural beauty was difficult to resist, and a pureblood vampire like Rin was even harder to turn away from. If the promise of seeing Haru weren't so sweet, Rin might've considered taking one of these humans as a snack for a second longer than usual.

Thankfully, the train pulled to a stop, having reached its destination. Rin flew up from his seat, almost too fast to pass as human, and hastily made his way for a door. People parted to let him through, some from shock and others from awe. He had no time for them.

As soon as he was off the train, Rin began to run. He remembered the path to Haru's house clearly. Memories of the last time he'd been here, six months ago, appeared like flashbulbs behind his eyes. It wasn't a night Rin liked to remember. He and Haru had raced at the pool, like usual. But Rin, in his eagerness to compete against Haru, had forgotten to a) feed before he left and b) bring any blood tablets with him. Dazed with hunger (in hindsight, Rin also attributed some of that haze to the anger of losing to Haru), Rin had been unable to stop himself from sinking his fangs into Haru and feeding greedily.

It was a miracle, Rin supposed, that Haru had survived. Unfortunately, now Haru was descending into the madness of a Level E vampire, and only Rin could save him.

Rin, being a pureblood (or Level A, although they were rarely called that) vampire, had a multitude of special skills inherited from his parents that made him strongly superior to other vampires. Level B, or the noble class, sometimes had special skills too, but very few, and weaker skills than Rin's. Level C and D vampires had once been human, but were now just ordinary vampires with no special skills other than the heightened speed and senses typical to all vampires. Level E vampires were considered dangerous outcasts. Any human who was bitten by a vampire and changed into one would become a Level E unless they could drink the blood of their pureblood master before they fell into murderous insanity and died. If Rin didn't hurry up, that's what would happen to Haru.

Finally, Rin reached Haru's house. All the lights were off, making Rin's stomach clench as he wondered if he was already too late. If he was, it would be up to him to stop Haru, even though he could scarcely entertain the thought of having to kill his friend without feeling the urge to hurl.

Rin knocked on Haru's door, and was met with absolute silence. Nerves frayed beyond what could be considered remotely healthy, even by vampire standards, Rin bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited. He knocked again. There was still no response. _Of course_. Haru would most likely be in the bath. _If he's still alive,_ a little voice in the back of Rin's head whispered. _Shut up_ , he replied.

Haru always left the key under the doormat, if he locked the door, so Rin reached down and felt around for it. As soon as the cold metal was in his hands, Rin shoved it into the lock, jiggled it, and burst into the house. The sooner he found Haru, the sooner he could calm the turmoil inside him.

"Haru? You here?" Rin called. He wasn't legitimately expecting an answer, but even just hearing the exhale of breath would be enough to reassure him. There was no response, so Rin went to the bathroom, where Haru could be found almost any time someone walked into his house.

Rin's fangs grazed along his lip as he gnawed at it nervously. Haru just had to be in here somewhere. It would be impossible for Rin to move on if he knew he was responsible for his longtime friend's death.

Under normal circumstances, the thump that emanated from the kitchen would've been cause for major concern, but Rin was so relieved to hear it that he couldn't stop to wonder if the thump had resulted in injury. His feet carried him toward the source of the sound almost before his brain could process the sudden assault of information reaching his senses. Thank God for heightened smell; it was Haru.

Rin was in no way prepared for the sight that greeted him in Haru's kitchen. He paused in the doorway, wide-eyed. Haru was slumped against the kitchen cabinets, sitting on the linoleum floor and wearing an expression of such pure, unadulterated fear and pain that Rin swore his heart stopped beating for a minute. Apparently, Haru's usually stoic demeanor would crack in the face of death.

The red-haired boy found himself walking forward. The only thing he knew now was that he had to help Haru. There was too much guilt weighing him down for Haru to die now. Thank goodness he wasn't dead already.

"Rin…" Haru's voice sounded terrible, dry and scratchy and just barely able to be heard. Rin froze for a second, concern painting itself across his features.

"You have to leave," Haru warned. _Leave? He looks like… I can't even imagine how much pain he's in… and he has the nerve to tell me to leave?_

"What the hell, Haru?" Rin growled, stopping a short distance from Haru. "You're lying on the kitchen floor looking like death itself and you want me to leave? Like hell I will!"

What Haru did next was an image that burned itself into Rin's mind, simply because it was so unlike his friend to be violent in any way. Baring a set of glittering fangs, Haru growled, "Rin!"

For a second, Rin could do nothing. His limbs would not respond, and only his mind could move. _Oh god Haru, what have I done to you? What did you ever do to deserve this? I'm so, so sorry._

"I'm so sorry Haru," Rin wailed, moving with nearly inhuman speed to kneel over Haru's lap, burying his face in his friend's shoulder. After all this, he still could not bear to let Haru see him cry.

"Rin, leave…"

Rin could sense the blood pumping through Haru's veins, fast but low in pressure. Haru hadn't eaten recently. Judging by Haru's condition, the boy was enduring his last moments of humanity. If Rin had been even ten minutes later than he was, it might've been too late to save Haru. Which was why he had to do this; it was either now or never.

"No, Haru. I'm not leaving you, I told you that. Especially not when…" Rin couldn't bring himself to complete his sentence. Why was it so hard to tell Haru the truth, that the intense and immeasurable pain he'd endured for the last six months were all because of Rin? Haru looked down, breaking eye contact with Rin.

"Especially not when this is all my fault." There, he'd said it. Rin threw his head back, exposing his neck to Haru because he knew that in such a fragile state, Haru would be unable to resist the intoxicating aroma of Rin's purebred blood. He was right; a fraction of a second later, Haru was there, fangs gliding into Rin's neck with a feeling of blissful pain.

No one had ever drank Rin's blood before. He'd drank from others plenty of times, as befit his status as a pureblood, but to willingly give someone else some of the fluid that kept him alive was an entirely different experience. Haru was probably lost in the haze of feeding, but Rin was acutely aware of every drop of blood that leaked from the open wounds in his neck, of every swipe of Haru's tongue across his skin, of every small constriction Haru's mouth made in order to greedily suck up more of Rin's blood. Briefly, he wondered if having someone drink your blood always felt this way, but the thought was soon lost in the fog of emotions that flooded Rin's mind. The experience, of allowing his best friend to drink his blood, was so startlingly foreign and yet deeply intimate that Rin almost wished he'd had the nerve to return and save Haru sooner.

Rin was smiling when Haru pulled away. The boy looked conflicted, unsure whether to relish in his sated hunger or apologize fervently to Rin. The redhead, however, was utterly distracted by a small rivulet of blood that had escaped Haru's greedy lips and tongue, and was rolling lazily down his friend's chin. Reaching out a finger, Rin swiped the red liquid and stuck it into his own mouth.

His own blood did not taste nearly as wonderful as the blood of pureblood vampires was rumored to be. Perhaps no vampire tasted good to his or herself, but Rin did not think he wanted to do that again. Unfortunately, Haru's widened blue orbs suggested that the newly-made vampire had not known about Rin's identity before this moment. It was almost humorous.

"I'm sorry, Haru. For so long, I wasn't sure how to tell you. When Makoto told me what'd happened, I worried I was too late to save you, but…" Oh, and now Rin was sobbing again. It was back to the shoulder of Haru's T-shirt, he supposed.

"It's ok. Thank you, Rin," Haru said. Rin felt the black-haired boy place a hand on the back of his head, palm soothing against his red locks. "Thank you for saving me, Rin."

 _That's right. I saved him. He's ok now. Haru's going to be ok for a long time now._

Getting to his feet and offering a hand to Haru, Rin said proudly, "So, how about you get up off the kitchen floor? I think you should go see your friends and let them know you're alive."

When Haru stood up, it brought the two vampires face to face. The close proximity was slightly dizzying; although maybe that was just the delicious aroma of Haru's blood wafting toward Rin's sensitive receptors.

"Rin, how long have you known you were a pureblood?"

"I left for Australia as soon as I found out. I didn't think I could handle being around you guys." It was a crappy excuse for leaving and Rin knew it, but Haru deserved perfect honesty from Rin after he'd kept the whole _I bit you and almost caused you a horribly painful death by vampirism_ secret.

"Rin." Haru was standing at the door now, ready to go see his friends, but Rin didn't want him to leave. "Rin, will you stay?"

Their eyes met, blue and red. Rin was sure that his eyes were glowing now from hunger and the darkness of the kitchen. They still had yet to turn on a single light in the house, and feeding Haru had not alleviated any of the hunger gnawing at Rin's own belly.

"Yeah, I'll stay. Actually, you can come to Samezuka with me. It's a school for vampires. That's why I transferred there."

"Okay."

Haru was leaving now. Rin was relieved to see his friend alive; the rush of the last five minutes still did not fully seem real in the red-haired boy's mind. "Hurry back, Haru. I'm hungry."

Hungry for an extended lifetime with Haru, that was.

 **A/N: That's the last one-shot I'm doing with this little plot line. Hope you enjoyed!**


End file.
